An ongoing hot topic that has been on many people’s minds nowadays would definitely include the proposal for increasing minimum wage in America. However, one group is going unnoticed and unrepresented in the debates. Since the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was put into effect in 1938, it has become acceptable to require certain workers to work for tips. Waiters and waitresses make up the majority of this class of employees. The law states that “an employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay 2.13 an hour in direct wages of that plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage, the employee retains all tips and the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips” (“Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor”). Of course, this does not always work in the favor of the employee. However, there is substantial evidence that is in favor of giving tipped workers an actual, livable wage. In order to ensure that all workers in America are treated equally, waiters and waitresses in the United States should be paid the base minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) per hour. To start off, it is commonly agreed upon that tipping at the end of a meal is often annoying and stressful. It is not required by law to tip anyone, but the guilt of social norms forces one to calculate what their server deserves. Someone cannot ever simply order something from a dine-in restaurant and pay for the price on the menu; it ends in a frustrating math calculation, which sours the mood at the end of what was possibly an enjoyable meal. However, while this is only an inconvenience for the paying customer, it is the difference between poverty and making ends meet for a server. Statistically speaking,... ... middle of paper ... ...ability of the wages of tipped workers is unfair and should be illegal, considering that the laws that are meant to protect these employees are often violated. Violations do not only happen to waiters, because "in some regions, the Department of Labor itself has recorded Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) noncompliance levels at above 50 percent in the nursing home, poultry processing, daycare, and restaurant industries" (Fine). Overall, the noncompliance seems to be an epidemic, and something must be done to change it. In the end, tipped workers, especially waiters and waitresses, are treated unfairly no matter how one looks at it. Our tip to you is: encourage restaurants to stop enforcing tips and start considering the livelihoods of their employees, who deserve the same wages as any other minimum wage worker (no matter what the federal minimum wage may become.)
"Plain and simple, Congress must act to meet the needs of our constituents. We can do that by strengthening families and increasing the minimum wage."
The commonly used practice of tipping has been receiving backlash, nothing new there. Do we really know what a tip truly mean? What effects it has? Brian Palmer explains to his audience that tipping has become a moral obligation rather than what it is perceived to be: gratitude. In Brain Palmer’s “Tipping is an Abomination”, he argues that while tipping has grown into a common habit for many, tipping is a bad habit because no one knows what tipping actually means. Brian Palmer begins shows his credibility with personal inputs and reliable sources, using convincing facts and statistics, all while using some emotional appeal to help his argument.
The restaurants where I worked had owners who were very protective of their staff, treating them like family. I have witnessed instances where a guest has been extremely rude to an employee and they have been asked to leave and not come back. While Polk’s client waited until the waitress was out of earshot, many are not as careful with their words. I have been fortunate enough that the men that I work with refrain from using the degrading language described in the article, at least to my knowledge. I have not been so fortunate with guests at the restaurant. A specific incident I witnessed occurred when, after one of the waitress left a table asking if they needed anything else a male guest said to his companions that he “needs a good fuck from her.” The guest’s friends were all very amused by his comments and a few of them agreed with his comment. This particular guest was a regular at the restaurant and he had a reputation for being rude and creepy. None of the waitresses wanted to wait on him because of the way that he looked at them. This guest was asked by one of the managers, who also overheard the comment that I had heard, to leave and not return to the restaurant. I later found out from the manager that it was not the first time that he had overheard that particular guest making rude comments about members
This article gives you a yes and no opinion on whether or not the F...
"When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed."
Tips are generally a small amount of money given to a person as gratitude for a service that has been provided. There are many times throughout our everyday lives in which we are put in a position to leave a gratuity. Whether it be dining at a restaurant, getting your hair cut at the salon, or having a few drinks with friends at a bar. In each case there was a service provided to you, now you have a decision to make, how much of a tip is considered acceptable and should you tip everyone that provides a service to you? There are many guidelines for consumers to follow. With modern technology there are convenient tip calculators available as features on most new cellular phones. When deciding on the tip amount the service is one of the major determining factors along with whether or not you plan on visiting the establishment again , and how the tip will play a role in your further dealings with said business. Michael Lewis explores a few interesting reasons why tipping is getting out of hand in a recent essay. I strongly agree with many points and examples he provides.
Also, servers themselves know that certain things affect tips that aren’t usually included in most research on tipping influences. For instance many servers believe that gas prices affect the amount they are tipped or how busy the restaurant is. The thought is that the higher the gas prices the smaller the tip and vise versa. All the theories similar to this are why many servers and others alike believe that tips are too inconsistent of a form of payment to be able to live of...
"Raising the minimum wage will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too - raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities." -- President Obama
Although tips can often lead to servers making well over regular minimum wage per hour, overall, tips are very inconsistent and are completely dependent on restaurant customers. Not only does the customer decide how much to tip based on his/her enjoyment of the dining experience, but also servers need busy restaurants in order to make good money.
Tipping is an outdated way to allow a business to not pay employees a consistent fair wage. Group pressure and situational pressure push this idea that you must tip and it is the wrong thing to do otherwise. Tipping is not only what pushes our wait staff into poverty, but what helps them get there. The restaurants are in the long run not even gaining as much as they are losing, and in most restaurants are only there as a staple of the past. With low employee job satisfaction and low inconsistent pay, the cost for re-training and hiring new employees often outweighs the cost of giving the wait staff a proper consistent pay. Tipping also breeds a dichotomy between the wait staff and the customers that is unhealthy, with the wait staff doing
Since its inception, the minimum wage has been a hotbed for debate. If today’s leaders could manage to increase minimum wage, millions of families would benefit.
“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”
In the restaurant industry there are judgemental people everywhere. I have had a couple of negative experiences working under poor management. Honestly, I have never been so disrespected on a regular basis for no substantial reason. Discrimination in any workplace is just not a good environment to be in.
What they don’t take into consideration is the kitchen crew, and when they do, it’s when their food is not to their liking. So, when customers tip the waiter for their good service the crew who actually made the customers food is not getting their share. I carhop Sonic Drive In, and I make tips while working. None of the tips I make ever goes to the kitchen staff. I make drinks, take orders, handle rowdy customers, and deliver the food out to cars. I’d rather do all of those things that slave away behind a grill and fryer during a happy hour rush. The cooks are the unsung heroes at restaurants and do not get the same compensation as the waiters. Now, some establishments share the tips waiters collect with the kitchen. However, this is hardly fair for the waiter, who is still getting paid the two-three dollar hourly waiting wage. There is no balance where both the waiter and entire kitchen crew is compensated. The banning of tipping will make it fair for the cooks who are working hard to cook delicious meals and for the waiters who provide great service to the consumers as
It was a very nice waterfront restaurant featuring both indoor and outdoor seating. I read Yelp reviews before going and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect as some reviews were great whereas others were absolutely awful. I chose to sit outdoors due to the amazing weather and view the restaurant had to offer, along with live music. I went around noon and had to wait about five minutes for a table which wasn’t an issue but it took approximately ten minutes for a waiter to even come over to my table to offer me a drink, which in my opinion, is not great guest service. The service was overall very slow they were not very well organized and seemed very understaffed. My waiter was a very nice, young gentleman but was very uneducated when I proceeded to ask him a few questions about the menu and what he recommended to eat since it was my first time dining here. I ended up ordering the blackened salmon salad and it was pretty tasty but nothing really exceptional. I asked for a side of dressing and the waiter completely forgot about it and by the time he was reminded, I was already done and ready to get out of there. He apologized and offered me a free desert due to the poor service I was receiving and I decided to decline the offer and told him I’ll just take my check. There were many guests around me who have been waiting for